Women's Tennis

Women's Tennis Falls to Northwood 5-4

Sep 30, 2017

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The home opener for the Lake Superior State women's tennis team ended in a 5-4 defeat against the Northwood Timberwolves in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play at the tennis courts of the Arbuckle Student Activities Center on the campus of Lake Superior State.

Northwood (3-0, 3-0 GLIAC), who went 20-2 last season and finished atop the conference, fell behind the Lakers in doubles before making a comeback in singles play.

"This was by far the best we've been all year," said Lakers head coach Luke Ogren. "Our doubles were good and I feel as though we can compete against anybody. It's a tough loss, but there were many positives to take from today."

Lake Superior went 2-1 in the doubles portion of the match, as junior Tara Harvey and senior Marcarena Bielsa downed Tetyana Pavych and Carol Arnez-Mercado 9-7 in number one doubles. Freshman AlexiAnn Drouin and junior Allison Grandfield kept the Lakers moving forward in number two doubles, defeating Olesia Riabchuk and Kate Berestovenko 8-4. Northwood took the point in number three doubles, as Vasilisa Mikhaylova and Elizaveta Velichko edged junior Jenay Andrews and senior Laura Valderrama 9-8.

Moving into singles, Drouin upended Riabchuk in the first singles slot 6-3, 6-1. The Lakers then suffered defeats in the next four spots, as Pavych came back to defeat Harvey 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, Mikhaylova rallied past Bielsa 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, Valderrama lost to Berestovenko 6-1, 6-2, and Grandfield fell to Velichko 6-1, 6-1.

The Lakers finished the day with junior Kirsten Malpass defeating Anna Goncharova in the sixth slot 7-6, 4-6, 10-6. For Malpass, it was her first win of the season in singles play.

Lake State (1-5, 0-4 GLIAC) wraps up the weekend Sunday morning against Saginaw Valley State. The meet is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in the Activities Center.